Athletics Rebound With 5 in Ninth

Nick Swisher planned on having an easy afternoon Wednesday after Oakland Manager Ken Macha told him he had the day off.

“I was going to use it to get my head right, and the next thing you know I’m up there hitting,” he said.

Swisher walked with the bases loaded to force in the final run as the Athletics overcame a four-run ninth-inning deficit in a win for the first time in 48 years, beating the Seattle Mariners, 8-7, at Oakland.

“The way things have been going, to pull off a win like this gives us momentum and confidence,” Swisher said. “The way it happened was cool.”

Mark Kotsay and Eric Chavez hit two-run doubles before Swisher’s walk. The last time the Athletics came back from four runs down in the ninth to win was in a doubleheader opener on July 4, 1957, when the Kansas City A’s beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-4, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Seattle led, 5-0, after three innings and was on the verge of sweeping its first series at Oakland since April 2001 before the comeback against Eddie Guardado (1-2), who blew a save for the third time in 34 chances, and Jeff Nelson, who walked Swisher on a full count.

New York 5, Tampa Bay 4 -- Jason Giambi hit a go-ahead, two-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning at New York, and the Yankees got a much-needed victory against a surprising nemesis.

Hideki Matsui hit his 400th professional homer and drove in three runs for the Yankees. New York fought back from a 4-0 deficit and improved to 5-10 against last-place Tampa Bay.

Chicago 1, Kansas City 0 -- Paul Konerko homered for the fourth straight game, and the White Sox extended their winning streak to seven with a victory at Chicago.

Jose Contreras (11-7) won his fourth consecutive start, giving up six hits in 7 2/3 innings. Dustin Hermanson got his 34th save, completing the six-hitter by retiring Mike Sweeney on a game-ending popup with runners at the corners.

Minnesota 8, Texas 6 -- The Twins overcame a five-run deficit, taking advantage of a throwing error by pitcher Doug Brocail on a bunt to score two runs in the sixth inning, to beat the Rangers at Minneapolis.

Cleveland 4, Detroit 1 -- Casey Blake homered twice, and C.C. Sabathia pitched his first complete game of the season in the Indians’ three-game sweep of the Tigers at Detroit.

Toronto 7, Baltimore 4 -- Frank Catalanotto singled in the tiebreaking run in a four-run seventh inning at Baltimore, and Gregg Zaun homered for the Blue Jays, who took two of three games to win a series for the first time since mid-August.